Sanford's City Airport Realizing High Hopes

March 5, 1986|By Gary Taylor of The Sentinel Staff

SANFORD — It was a gloomy day for Sanford on Dec. 8, 1965, when the U.S. Department of Defense announced it would close the Sanford Naval Air Station. Many doubted the city could survive such an economic disaster.

More than 20 years later, Sanford is thriving and one of its biggest assets is the Sanford-Central Florida Airport, formerly the Naval Air Station.

The federal government gave the station to the city on March 15, 1969. It operated as a city department until Oct. 1, 1971, when the Sanford Airport Authority, created by a special legislative act, took over.

A $10,000 loan from the city put the airport in business. It was repaid in six months and the airport has operated in the black ever since. Revenues for 1985-86 are expected to exceed $4.4 million, with 60 percent generated by industrial activities and 40 percent by aviation activities.

One of the biggest reasons the airport has been such a success is that the city has not interfered with its operation, said J.S. ''Red'' Cleveland, director of aviation. The seven members of the airport authority have been given free rein.

''They city officials don't bother us out here,'' said Cleveland. ''They let us run the airport.

''They authority members run it like it was their own business,'' he said. ''They don't mess around. There are no politics.''

Five of the seven members -- chairman Kay Shoemaker, vice chairman Scott Burns, Robert Rosemond, Joe Baker and John Mercer -- have been on the authortiy since it was created. The other two members are Jim deGanahl and Henry Schumacher.

The latest figures compiled by the Florida Department of Transportation show the airport generated $31,502,300 in regional earnings for 1982, with a total regional impact of $123,349,400. There has been a steady increase since then, Cleveland said.

There were 115,000 landings and takeoffs last year. Almost half -- 50,000 -- were by aircraft not based at the airport. About 43 percent of all landings and takeoffs were from corporate business traffic.

There are 260 planes based at the airport. The 89 available T-hangars are full and several people are waiting to lease one. There also is a waiting list for the airport's half-dozen corporate hangars.

It is the same story for industrial space.

''There's not a vacant building on the airport,'' said Cleveland. About 65 companies lease space for industrial and commercial activities, dealing in everything from real estate to manufacturing and educational services to food processing.

Additional land is available for more buildings, but interested companies must be able to finance the building themselves, Cleveland said. ''We can usually arrange favorable financing, but they've got to have the credit.''

An $850,000 expansion project on the north side of the airport is under way and will be used primarily for large cargo planes. When completed, it will give the airport 6 acres of new ramp space and a new taxiway. The project also includes lighting for the ramp and taxiway and an entrance road off State Road 46 near Brisson Avenue.

The airport will pay about $150,000 of the total cost with the state and federal governments paying the rest.

As a provision of receiving the airport from the federal government, the city had to agree to put all money generated by the airport back into its operation. To stretch those dollars even further, the airport seeks state and federal grants whenever they are available, Cleveland said.

''We compete with other airports,'' he said. ''You have to sell your project.''

A few years ago the Federal Aviation Administration installed an instrument landing system, which the FAA maintains. There were 8,461 instrument landings at the airport last year.

The airport has 29 employees who provide security and operate the tower and terminal. The employees have done the fueling for several years because the airport authority has not found a private company to do it.

Fire protection is provided by Sanford firefighters, although there is a fire-rescue truck at the airport and maintenance employees are trained to use it in an emergency. In return for a favorable lease for land to build its Midway fire station, the Seminole County Fire Department also provides fire protection.

Sanford-Central Florida is classified as a reliever airport for Orlando International Airport. Charter flights do not use the airport. Such flights stopped a few years ago when the FAA changed its regulations to require security screening for charters.

If a charter service shows interest in using the Sanford airport, a private security company could have a screening procedure set up within 10 days, Cleveland said. ''The authority does not want to get into that business.''